Sometimes I like to knit, just for the sake of knitting. Just to do something with my hands, a simple motion, nothing too frustrating, no fancy pattern, just plain old stockinette. That is how this sweater came to be. I've had this cotton mix in my stash for at least year, don't even remember what I bought it for. Now it's this light, simple sweater. Perfect for the end of summer. 
I used bigger needles than the yarn calls for, CO some random number of stitches for a wide neckline and knit in the round in stockinette. Increased for the sleeves with yarn overs and after a couple of weeks I had a simple, over-sized sweater that makes me feel like one of those 80's knitting magazine models. Except, I can't really pose like those women. They have skills that I lack :) Sorry about the weird poses. 
The yarn is Toptex Edita Glamour, which calls for 3-4 mm needles. I used 6 mm round needles and DPN's for the sleeves. I did one round of single crochet on the sleeves and the bottom to stop the rolling that stockinette loves to do.
Ages ago I bought Amy Butler's In Stitches from Amazon. This CD Box is my first project from that book.
I would like to tell you it was a complete success, and it was going rather well, but then the crappy sewing on the top edge happened. I could blame my Toyota sewing machine, but let's face it, it's probably me.
I did do a very fine job on the bottom. Look at that crisp edge. Too bad you can't see the bottom when the box is doing what it's supposed to. Namely holding CDs. 
This project calls for Timtex, a fancy schmancy interfacing that is not sold here. I used a cereal box instead to give it some shape. I also omitted the handles for the box, because I didn't want to cover the pretty red flowers. The fabric is from Etsy. I only bought a half a meter. Should have gotten more when I had the chance. I could have made two boxes. I would have even been extra careful with the topstitching on the second one.
When I was a kid, "The Smurfs" were my favorite cartoon. I've recently stumbled on a episode on youtube (here in Croatia, the show was dubbed in our language) and it brought back fond childhood memories.I actually still use some of the quotes from that cartoon, like the unforgettable "Ima li još puno, Papa Štrumf?" ( How much further, Papa Smurf - from the Astrosmurf episode).
But my favorite character was Grouchy - Mrgud in Croatian. His random exclamations of hate cracked me up. I find his wisdom to applicable on so many things in everyday life, one of them being housework. Especially dishes. Washing dishes. Drying dishes. Dishes.So, with Mrgud in mind, I sewed a dishtowel out of aida cloth and stitched my most honest opinion of dishes. 
Imagine Grouchy saying in his grouchy voice: I hate dishes!
That's what I do everytime I look at this. It makes me chuckle a little. And then my face gets the same expression as Grouchys when I realize it's time to do the dishes.
Mrgud/Grouchy was done on 22-count aida cloth, with only one strand of floss. It took me about a week to finish.
The back is a mess and that's the reason it's not pictured. I'll probably sew a patch or something on the back, before I use the towel for drying dishes. Or maybe I should forget about function, trim the cloth, frame the cross stitch and display it in my tiny kitchen as the universal truth?
After more than a month of working on this, I finished my Pintuck T-shirt.The pattern was great, easy to read and to follow. A lot of short rows, and while I generally dislike those (I end up having holes all over the place) it resulted in some nice shaping, especially on the sleeves.
I used different yarn than the pattern calls for (as always) and fumbled a bit with the size - I think I started with XS and ending up doing half of the shirt in S. I should have written it down I guess. Due to my marvelous XS/S sizing changes, the bib is a bit too high. Actually, way to high. Also, the shirt is a little tight in the armpits. Someday I will knit a short sleeved shirt that doesn't cut off circulation in my arms. Someday.
A real knitter here would have admitted defeat, would have frogged the pits and the bib and re-knit the whole thing. Not me though. I am far to lazy to do that. It's taken me too long to even get to the bib, no way am I going back now that I've washed the damn thing and sewed the buttons on.
Besides, it's only tight if I move my arms around too much. It'll be okay for those two times I'll actually wear it.
It's shameful, but I hardly ever wear the stuff I knit. Want to know why? Because I don't dare tossing them in the washing machine and hand washing is such a pain in the ass. We've already established that I'm lazy.:-)
Pattern: Pintuck T-shirt
Yarn: Lana Grossa Elastico, 3 skeins
Needles: 3,5 mm
Time it took: 48 days
Finally, I have my computer back. This past month has been one malfunction after another. Starting with the pipes leaking in my apartment (they had to be completely replaced) and ending with my computer dying on me. So the past two weeks have been mostly about cleaning up after the workers, vacuuming the endless amounts of dust that seem to got everywhere and waiting for the computer repair guy to do his thing. Now the water smells and tastes funny and the computer makes a funny noise when you turn it on, but I'm so past caring about that. I have returned to my crafts, and I'm on vacation. So what if it rains every single day? I have my needles ;)I have recently discovered that the newsstands here carry Mani di fata, an Italian stitching magazine. Although most of the patterns are a little too classic for my taste, it does have some cute stuff. Like the cake and cupcake you see below.
These were both done on 11 count aida cloth (at least I think it's 11, I counted the little squares and got 11 per inch) with three strands of floss. Mostly Ljubica by Unitas. I should have used 4 strands to get better coverage, I'll have to remember that for next time. Someday, they will become potholders. Or something else that has some kind of use in the kitchen. Meanwhile, I busy myself with knitting. I'm working on the Pintuck T-shirt and progress is slow. I just hope I'll finish it before the summer's over.
